• "Then He will also say to those on His left" (Matt. 25:41). These have already been identified as "the goats" (Matt. 25:33) from among "all the nations" (Matt. 25:32) who have been gathered before the Son of Man. In the understanding of that day, the "right" was always the favored side, the "left" the unfavored side.

• "Depart from Me" (Matt. 25:41). "Depart" is the Present Imperative of poreûomai (4198), to go, travel, journey, proceed, here, with an indication of the point of origin depart (from) (Matt. 25:41) (adapted from Friberg). This command of banishment, instead of welcome, will be extremely difficult for those Gentiles on the left. They had been hoping for, and even certain of, being admitted into the Kingdom. This unexpected directive will plunge the hearers into immediate panic.
  

• "Accursed ones" (Matt. 25:41). But as depressing as the command to depart is, the descriptive name, "accursed ones" will be absolutely terrifying to their collective ears. Literally, the text reads, "ones having been cursed," the Vocative Plural Perfect Passive Participle of the verb kataráomai (2672), the Passive of which means "be doomed, be accursed" (Matt. 25:41) (Friberg). This verb is used but five times in the entire NT. But of all uses, this instance gives the greatest content to the nature of the curse.

• "into the eternal fire" (Matt. 25:41). The text reads, literally, "into the fire, the eternal." "Fire" is the fairly common pûr (4442), used 71 times in the NT. Friberg's definition of the noun is revealing. He defines "fire" as follows: "(1) literally, as an earthly phenomenon (Matt. 17:15); (2) figuratively; (a) in the future, of divine judgment place of punishment (Matt. 3:10); (b) as a destructive force (James 3:5); (c) of trials as a purifying force (1 Pet. 1:7); (d) as a sign of the divine presence (Acts 7:30; Rev. 1:14)." It is intriguing to me that interpreters so often insist on making something in the long-term future figurative, as opposed to literal. I don't believe this future fire is as figurative as Friberg makes it out to be. After all, Jesus Himself spoke the following words:
  

• ⁴⁰ So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, ⁴² and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 13:40-42).
  


• I believe this fire in Matt. 13:40-42 is the identical fire of which Jesus spoke in Matt. 25:41. Call it figurative if you will, but "weeping and gnashing of teeth" sounds painfully literal to me. This fire is different from typical fire on earth only in that it is "unquenchable," ásbestos (762) (Matt. 3:12; Mark 9:43; Luke 3:17) and "eternal" (aiō´nios, 166) (Matt. 25:41). This fire will be extremely painful. Although it will never completely consume, neither will it ever stop burning and inflicting pain. The rich man stated to "Father Abraham" that he was "in agony in this flame" (Luke 16:24). That sounds like literal fire to me.

• "which has been prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41).
  

• This revelation is grim and ominous. The eternal fire toward which these people from among the "goat" nations are headed is "the one having been prepared," the Perfect Passive Participle of hetoimádzō (2090), not for humans, but for the devil and his angels.This is a unique fire. It will have the capacity to inflict pain interminably both upon resurrected humans and upon evil spirit beings.
  


• "for the devil" – "devil" is the Dative case of the noun diábolos (1228). He is the Arch-Enemy of God and humans. His eternal destiny is "The Lake of Fire and Brimstone" (Rev. 20:10).
  


• "and his angels" – literally, "messengers," the plural of ággelos (32). These are fallen angels (messengers) originally created by God to serve Him, but who revolted against God along with their supremely deceptive leader. They are also called demons and unclean spirits. This Lake of Fire was originally prepared by God for Satan and his demonic followers. Tragically, it will also be the forever repository of humans (Rev. 20:11-15) who revolt against God and do not repent, refusing to trust in Him and His anointed King, Jesus (John 3:16-18, 36).
  

• "for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat;" (Matt. 25:42)


• "I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink" (Matt. 25:42)


• "I was a stranger, and you did not invite me in" (Matt. 25:43)


• "naked, and you did not clothe me" (Matt. 25:43)


• "sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me." (Matt. 25:43)
  


• The King went through the same list of good deeds that He had given to the righteous as reasons for their admittance into His Kingdom. But in this case, those on the King's left had not performed these good deeds to Him.


• Once again, the failure to perform these deeds is not to be seen as a failure on the part of these to earn their salvation. Rather, the failure to perform is evidence of salvation not possessed.

• "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'"
  


• It seems, in reading this, that those on the left had actually done these good deeds to someone. There were some who were hungry that they had fed. There were some who were thirsty to whom they had given a drink. There were some who were strangers, or foreigners, whom they had assisted. There were some who were naked whom they had clothed. There were some who were sick whom they had assisted. There were some who were in prison whom they had visited.
  


• It is tragic that these who had performed all these good works were expecting to have earned admission into the Kingdom. They thought they were good people. They thought they had earned the right to enter the Kingdom. Why on earth were they being excluded?
  

• "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'"

• It would almost seem that, as the King spoke these words, He gestured over to the "these" who were standing close enough at hand for the banished to be able to see to whom He was referring. Once again, the King used the plural of the near demonstrative pronoun hoûtos (3778), "these." The people to whom He was referring were near at hand, not remote (which would have been ekeînos, 1565, "those"). To whom was He referring?
  


• It is most likely that the King was referring to the same group of people He had referenced previously, when He admitted the "righteous" into His Kingdom. There, he had stated, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me’ (Matt. 25:40). So who were these "brothers" of the King?
  


• It is extremely doubtful they were the King's physical, biological brothers. They had been dead for at least two millennia, and were inaccessible to those at this judgment.
  

• It is also unlikely that they were the righteous Gentiles who were being admitted into the Kingdom. It seems that another people grouping other than Gentiles, people of the earth's nations, were in view.
  


• In the context of Mathew 25:1-46, there is only one other group of people other than the righteous Gentiles, who have survived the Tribulation, and who are being admitted into the Kingdom. That final group consists of Messianic Jewish people. Their judgment was outlined in Matthew 25:1-30 under two metaphors, "The Analogy of the Wedding and the Ten Virgins" (Matt 25:1-13), and "The Analogy of the Journeying Slave Owner" (Matt. 25:14-30). Only the Jewish people who were rightly related to the King had survived this Judgment of Israel.
  


• So these "goat" Gentiles are being excluded from the Kingdom because they refused to render aid to persecuted Jewish believers in the Messiah, those who had survived the Judgment of Israel. And why would they refuse to render aid? At least a couple of reasons spring to mind.
  


• Perhaps because, like so many today, they were endemically Anti-Semitic. They had an in-built, spontaneous dislike for God's chosen people. There will come a time when all the nations of the world will attempt to destroy or enslave Jewish people (Zech. 12:1-3; 14:1-2; Luke 21:21-24).
  


• More to the point, these Messianic Jewish people will abhor the "mark of the beast." They will stand aloof from the star-struck worship of the world dictator that most will mindlessly offer. They will be enemies of the Global State. So to help them in any way would endanger one's own life.


• So the people on the King's left will not render aid to these Messianic Jews, the King's "brothers." And it will come about that because they will refuse to render aid to the King's brothers, they will refuse to render aid to the King Himself.

• And because they will not render aid to the King Himself, the King will banish these unbelieving Gentiles from His Kingdom and doom them to the Lake of Fire prepared for the Devil and His angels. How painfully sad!
  

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